I continue to be blessed richly by John Owen’s treatise on indwelling sin. It’s a wonderful volume to read slowly and devotionally—especially if you’re not used to reading 17th century English prose. In chapter 15 (which starts on page 290 of Volume 6 of the Banner of Truth edition of his works), Owen considers the “ways and means whereby indwelling sin prevails on believers unto habitual declensions and decays as to degrees of grace and holiness…” That is, how does indwelling sin cause the disciple of Jesus to be less inclined and less desirous over time to live a holy life?

His first answer is that it clogs up the springs and turns off the showers of grace that we enjoy in our early experience as newborn Christians. The springs of the “fresh, vigorous sense of pardoning mercy” and the “fresh taste [we] have had of spiritual things,” are stopped and tainted not only by sloth and negligence, but also by what Owen calls sin’s “unframing the soul.”

I had never encountered this language before to talk about sin’s working in the believer, and it has remained on my mind since I read it several days ago. What does Owen mean by this unfamiliar (to us) word “unframing”?

• As becomes clear later in the chapter, the verb “to unframe” is related to the noun “frame”—the settled disposition of one’s heart. We speak today of a “frame of mind,” which is a current—and temporary—mood or mental state. A “frame” as Owen used the word was a more fixed temper of spirit than in modern usage. But it was still liable to change, and needed to be kept up or it would fade away.

• The opposite of “to unframe” is, of course, to “to frame.” This verb is used in the Authorized Version/King James Version in Ephesians 2:21 and Hebrews 11:3. In the former, the Greek word it translates has the sense “to join/fit together.” In the latter, the Greek word has the sense of “to prepare, create” or “to put in order.” The word “to frame,” as Owen uses it here, is referring not to a picture in a picture frame but to the structure of a building. We still speak of “framing a house” to refer to the joining together of posts, beams, joists, rafters, and braces. So “to unframe” has the sense of tearing apart or disjointing—with the result that the right spiritual “frame” is lost.

To explain how indwelling sin unframes the soul of Christians, Owen returns to the experience of newborn babes in Christ: “They never think of pardoning mercy, but they labor to affect their whole souls with it, and do stir up themselves unto suitable affections and returns of constant obedience. They think not of the excellency of Christ and spiritual things, now newly discovered unto them in a saving light, but they press [i.e., without pressing] with all their might after a farther, a fuller enjoyment of them. This keeps them humble and holy, this makes them thankful and fruitful.”

• Indwelling sin “insensibly bring[s] them to content themselves with slight and rare thoughts of these things, without a diligent, sedulous [i.e., showing persistent and careful effort] endeavor to give them their due improvement upon the soul.” The result of this unframing is that we have “formal, weary, powerless thoughts of those things which should prevail with [us] unto diligence in thankful obedience.” Rather than approaching God’s purity, holiness, and majesty with reverence and godly fear, “using and improving them unto the utmost for the end whereunto they are appointed,” we take them for granted and treat them as little to be regarded. Rather than thinking of gospel truths with a desire and resolve “to have them ingrafted upon [our] souls, and all the effects of them produced in [us],” we think of them in a slight and perfunctory manner.

• It’s not that unframed Christians stop talking of spiritual things or doing the religious duties that we’ve done before, “but yet they have poor, lean, starving souls, as to any real and effectual communion with God. By the power and subtlety of indwelling sin they have grown formal. . . whereby they have lost all their life, vigor, savor, and efficacy towards them.”

So how do we guard against indwelling sin’s sly cunning? How do we prevent it from stopping up the springs of spiritual life by unframing our souls? Owen exhorts us, as he does throughout this book, to be on guard against the way that sin works. Knowing our enemy is a beginning step in the fight against the flesh. We must also be diligent and careful to keep up the godly frame of heart created in us by the Holy Spirit, by thinking often on the truths of who God is and what He has done for you in the gospel. But be sure to meditate on these truths with wholehearted earnestness. Owen closes this section with a one-liner that we do well to memorize: “Be always serious in spiritual things if ever you intend to be bettered by them.” May the Lord grant us the ability to resist sin’s attempt to unframe our soul, and may He keep our soul in a frame of grace and godliness.

The former would have us empty our mind of rational thought, perhaps repeat a word or phrase or mantra over and over again, with the goal being to become one with the Force or the Chi or pure consciousness and being.

The latter is what God commands and commends throughout His word:

• Joshua 1:8 - “This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.”

• Psalm 1:1-3 - “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”

• Psalm 119:97 - “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.”

• Philippians 4:8 - “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

• Luke 2:19 - “Mary treasured up all these things [that the shepherds had told her], pondering them in her heart.”

Meditation in a Biblical sense is the exact opposite of emptying our minds. It’s rather engaging our minds with the truth of God’s word (the references above to the “law of God” are not merely about God’s commands, but to His teaching, His instruction, His revelation in the Scriptures in general).

It’s sustained reflection, contemplation, and pondering what we read in such a way that our thoughts are focused on the triune God, His works, His ways, His character, His promises, His requirements.

It’s not mere thinking—it’s not merely a work of the brain. Rather, it’s heart work, it’s thinking coram Deo/in the presence of God, taking your thoughts and using them to stir up and enflame the feelings of your soul, and stirring your heart to prayer.

It’s directing our thoughts Godward so that we can grow in godliness.

It’s not so much learning something new by studying, as it is reflecting more deeply on truth you already know, toward the end of spiritual refreshment and growth.

It’s chewing on the word, checking cross-references, questioning it and questioning yourself, working through its implications for every facet of life, pressing on it and massaging it, turning it over and over in your mind, until you have worked it into your heart, and are able to see what it should do to you and in you, until you see how your life will change if you believe and act on the truth you’re seeing.

It’s slow and deep reading rather than fast skimming or listening at 1.8 speed.

It’s tasting, delighting, sensing, feeling, drawing strength, allowing the word to convict and change you.

It’s not like the winter sun, that has little warmth and influence, but like the summer sun that “melts the heart when it is frozen and makes it drops into tears of love” (Thomas Watson, quoted in Matthew Bingham, A Heart Aflame for God: A Reformed Approach to Spiritual Formation, 142).

• One of the vivid illustrations that the Puritans would use to depict the purpose, usefulness, and goal of meditation was fanning a fire into flame—stirring up the dying and cold embers of the heart so that fresh flames might spring up. Meditation is the bellows of the soul. It kindles and enflames holy affections that are still present, but have been snuffed out and chilled by the world, indwelling sin, and Satan (Bingham, 137-138). We’ve all been there: sitting around a campfire that is quickly losing its heat. We’ve all been there: growing cold toward God, the gospel, Scripture reading, prayer, holiness. Meditation waters the soul that we might learn to desire and love and seek and fear and adore and delight in our triune God, and thus bear much fruit.

Meditation is directly connected to both reading and study of the Bible and to prayer. It’s a bridge between the two. It enriches and enlivens our time in the word, and prepares our hearts for prayer. “Reading brings me meat, meditation brings forth the sweetness. Reading brings the coals to the wood, meditation makes the flame. Reading brings me the sword of the word, meditation [sharpens] it” (quoted in A Heart Aflame for God, 159).

• Martin Luther joins these three disciplines by encouraging us to meditate on God’s word in four areas: 1) Reflect: consider the essential meaning/content of the text and echo back to God in your own words what He has said in His word; 2) Rejoice: consider how it leads you to thank and praise God, and do so for what He has promises, taught, commanded or expressed in the text; 3) Repent: consider how it leads you to repent and confess, and so so for your sins of omission and commission; and 4) Request: consider how it leads you to ask God for what He has promised, taught, or commanded in His word.

John Owen, the great 17^th century Puritan theologian, gives several helpful directions as you seek to practice this discipline [I’ve compiled these from Owen’s volume on Indwelling Sin and Tim Keller’s reflections on Owen’s writings in his chapter on mediation in his book Prayer]:

1. Meditate on the word in the word. As you read the Scriptures, aim to have your heart affected by what you discover there.

   1. Fix your thoughts. Observe the text, look at it from lots of angles, ask questions of it, figure out what it is teaching, what it means.

   2. Incline your heart. Having thought the truth out, now think it in. Ask how the truth should change you. Examine yourself in light of the word. Stir your heart/exhort yourself to hope, joy, conviction, comfort, repentance, humility, peace, etc.

   3. Savor the truth. Respond to the illumination the Holy Spirit gives you. If you’re a writer, then write out your meditations on God’s word, and revisit them throughout the day.

2. Meditate on God with God. Speak your meditations on God to God, in prayer and praise. This will fix your mind more firmly on the truth, and affect the soul more and more until you delight in whatever aspect of Him that you’re meditating on. Or if you find yourself distracted, bored, hard of heart, cry out for help. As Him to open your eyes, that you may behold wonderous things in His word (Psalm 119:18).

3. Frequency will overcome “meditator’s block”. If you’re struggling to come up with thoughts for meditation, come back to the passage again and again, and you’ll see more/different things eventually. Remember that trees don’t grow overnight, but the effect of your time seeking to meditate on the truth is cumulative.

Matthew Bingham wisely reminds us, “Our reality is profoundly shaped by what we give our regular, sustained attention” (A Heart Aflame for God, 130). May the Lord cause our attention to be on His word, before we begin each day, as we walk through them, and as we end them.

In God’s providence, however, “a while” lasted only as long as the boat ride across the Sea of Galilee. For the crowds saw them, and ran ahead of them along the coastline to the heretofore secluded place of rest Jesus had in mind.

I’m thankful to report that my sabbatical this summer has been different than that of the disciples. It has been ten quiet and refreshing weeks of seclusion and rest. As I prepare to step back into the rhythms and routines of pastoral ministry, I want to try to put into words what this season of sabbatical has been like—primarily for the elders and flock of Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church who graciously gave me (and my family) this gift, but also for anyone else who might be interested.

If, in the words of Jesus, a sabbatical is going away from ministry for the purpose of rest, then my sabbatical was wildly successful. For ten weeks in a row, I have not checked my church email or Slack, I have not written a sermon or a teaching lesson, I have not had any 1-1 or committee meetings on my schedule. The “coming and going” of many people and much communication, as well as the weekly responsibilities of planning and preparing, was reduced to nearly zero. It’s hard to express how restful for my body and my soul it was to step away and unplug from all these things—particularly the never-ending stream of digital correspondence. There is certainly a slight sense of dread as I anticipate working through all my messages soon, and I am feeling a little rusty as I think about preparing/writing a sermon again. But whatever cost I might have to pay these first few weeks back, it was worth it to experience the lightness of removing those loads from my shoulders this summer.

I am beyond grateful for our Associate Pastor Charles Marchman and our Executive Ministry Director John Kwasny, my Executive Assistant Taylor Easley, and all our elders and deacons and church staff - I was able to disappear and disconnect in large part because I was confident that ministry would continue without a hitch.

So what did I do with my time? How did I rest?

1. I spent time with my family. We enjoyed meals, played boardgames, went hiking and kayaking, watched movies, watched the College World Series and World Cup, and went on walks. Not having a sermon to finish preparing on Saturdays made that day much freer and relaxing.
   
   For three of our ten weeks, we were able to travel together: to the Florida beach and the North Carolina mountains with the whole family, and to London with my wife Elizabeth to celebrate our 25th anniversary (enabled in part by a generous sabbatical gift from POPC). Travel isn’t the epitome of rest in my mind (though the mountains are much more restful to me than the beach, due to a lack of sand, sunscreen, and heat), but it was so good to spend time with Elizabeth and our children in these places.
   
   Our trip to London had so many highlights, but six stand out to me:

   1. Thanks to a tip from Brian Habig, we were able to get a private tour of Westminster Abbey, including access to the Jerusalem Chamber, the room where the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms were debated and written in the 1640s.

      

   2. We saw the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum.

      

   3. We spent one day in Oxford, where we explored Magdalan College (where C. S. Lewis taught), visited a pub frequented by Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and their “Inkling” friends, spent time in Blackwell’s Bookshop, and saw the spot where Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer were burned at the stake by Bloody Mary in 1555-1556. Latimer’s famous words to Ridley as they were about to be executed for their Protestant beliefs are worth knowing and memorizing: “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust never shall be put out.”

      

   4. We enjoyed Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe Theater and Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the world.

   5. We walked through the Churchill War Rooms, the underground bunker from which Winston Churchill led the British military campaigns in WW2.

   6. We were able to worship Sunday morning at IPC-Ealing (the International Presbyterian Church is the denomination that Francis Schaeffer helped to found), pastored by Paul Levy. On Sunday evening we attended London City Presbyterian Church, a Free Church of Scotland congregation pastored by Andy Longwe. Both congregations were a blessing to our souls, and it was a joy to meet both pastors.

2. I was able to read a lot. Reading is one of the most relaxing things for me to do, therefore much of the seven weeks at home found me reading in my living room chair or on our back patio. I read most of Flannery O’Connor’s writings, the first eight Agatha Christie mysteries, The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck, Notes From Underground by Dostoevesky, and reread Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (I actually listened to it read by Andy Serkis - a phenomenal experience if you’re wanting to read or reread these books!). I also read nonfiction: Sean Lucas’ For a Continuing Church (a history of the PCA), Tim Morey’s Planting a Church Without Losing Your Soul (very helpful for pastors as well as planters), John Fesko’s Signed, Sealed, Delivered (an introduction to covenant theology), Tim Keller’s Prayer, and Walter Marshall’s The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification (highlights the gospel foundations of our pursuit of holiness). Elizabeth and I started to read and discuss Keller’s The Meaning of Marriage together. I’m still working through Benjamin Friedman’s Religion and the Rise of Capitalism and Ed Conway’s Material World, both fabulous books on modern economic life. Probably the most significant book I’ve read all summer is one I’m reading slowly and devotionally: John Owen’s The Nature, Power, Deceit, and Prevalency of the Remainders of Indwelling Sin in Believers; Together With the Ways of its Working and Means of Prevention, Opened, Evinced, and Applied: with a Resolution of Sundry Cases of Conscience Thereunto Appertaining. This classic treatise on the believer’s fight against the enemy within is so convicting, so encouraging, and so full of insight for our struggle against temptation. Owen isn’t easy to read, but so, so, so worth the time and effort.

3. I was able to work around the house. One of the most restful, rejuvenating things for me is to put in order something that is disordered, or to repair something that is not working as it ought. Organizing our garage, installing a new garbage disposal, keeping the outside plants and vegetables watered and the yard looking decent, all fit the bill. Elizabeth would tell you, and I completely agree, that the single best thing I accomplished around the house on my sabbatical was installing a ceiling fan in our bedroom - nothing like moving air in a room that doesn’t cool very well (which reminds me, we were in London the last week of June, during their heat wave; for Mississippians, temps in the mid-high 90s aren’t that big of a deal - but very few places there had air conditioning, ceiling fans, or ice, which we absolutely take for granted as we deal with heat here. Someone needs to go put a Sonic or Raising Cane’s there and introduce them to pellet ice!).

4. I was able to do some woodworking and woodcarving. I’ve always wanted to build a Little Free Library, and it fits so well in our cul-de-sac. Come take a book/leave a book!

   

   Toward the end of the sabbatical, I pulled out my woodcarving tools, and immediately wished I had done so earlier in the summer. Shaving wood off a block sliver by sliver is soothing to the mind, especially if you end up with something worth keeping. This rose was supposed to be connected to the vase, but I accidentally sliced through the stem - so now it’s a rose sitting in a vase.

   

5. I was able to play my trombone. Pastor Charles’ proficiency on the trombone from his time in the Auburn University marching band has spurred me on to re-learn this instrument I played from 4th grade through high school. During my sabbatical, I was able to get my lips and lungs back in shape a bit and learn for the first time some jazz music theory that I was never taught in high school. I finally know what modes are! With Pastor Matheus’ abilities on the jazz piano, who knows what sort of Presbyterian jazz might be heard coming out of the POPC church offices soon? 🤣

6. I was able to exercise. Not as much as I had hoped to do, but hopefully enough to stay in decent shape. A little bike-riding, a little swimming, a little hiking, some push-ups—but most fun of all was my annual participation in Summer League Ultimate. I was a captain this year, and Mark Henry, Josh and Rebekah Malone, and current CCS student Bentley James and former CCS student Wells Jordan were on my team. It’s always a great time, though we went 4-4 in the regular season; not as good as we had hoped, but the goal now is to win the loser’s bracket at the tournament this Saturday morning!

7. One of the privileges of our sabbatical was getting to worship on the Lord’s Day at other area churches. We visited non-Presbyterian churches in the mornings (except when we were in London and on either side of our NC trip—we were able to worship with my former congregation in Cookeville, TN, where Step Morgan pastors, and at Arden PCA in Asheville) and PCA churches in the evenings. It was encouraging to hear the word of God preached in an expository manner and with sound content in almost all of the churches we visited, and a joy to glorify the Lord with His people from other ecclesiastical traditions. I encourage every believer to worship at a different church every once in a while, whether while on vacation or just take a Sunday to visit somewhere other than your home church. It will do your soul good to see how God is at work elsewhere, and it will make you thankful for what you love about your own church family.

A sabbatical is a gift of grace, and I thank God for giving our elders the desire to bless our pastoral staff with periodic time to step away from ministry responsibilities to be refreshed and renewed. As I heard someone say recently, you’ll break a bow if you always keep it bent—and as I know from my own woodcarving experience, you have to stop cutting in order to sharpen the blade. Lord willing, the rest I’ve experience these last ten weeks—both from what I didn’t do and from what I did—will contribute toward sustaining me in ministry for the long term. It’s renewed my relationship with the Lord and with my family, and given me opportunity to work “muscles” that don’t have the opportunity to get worked as much in the pastorate. It also encouraged me that if the Lord allows me to live into retirement 15-20 years down the road, I have a lot to look forward to.

When Jesus took His disciples away for rest, but then saw that the crowds had beaten them to the secluded place, Mark tells us that “He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things” (6:34). He then miraculously fed five thousand men, in addition to the women and children with them (Matthew 14:21), from five loaves and two fish. Unfortunately, as revealed in the subsequent miracle of Jesus walking on water in the midst of the windstorm, the disciples “had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened” (Mark 6:52). What they should have learned is that Jesus is the God-man who has authority over all creation, and that they can depend on Him to provide for all their needs. Pray that my heart will not be hardened as I get back into the needy and windy fray of ministry, but that I might continue to rest my body and soul in the One who knows me and still loves me, who leads me beside quiet waters, who feeds me and sustains me in every circumstance, who teaches me by His Spirit, who strengthens me to walk by faith in the Father.

I’m speaking on the Southern Presbyterian pastor James Adair Lyon (1814-1882) at the pre-conference of the Greenville Seminary Confessional Conference in March, and have been rereading Lyon’s journals from 1850-1870. This evening I came across a passage that demands to be in print online.

In September 1854, Lyon moved his family from St. Louis, MO, to take a pastorate in Columbus, MS. His belongings, including his library of over 1000 volumes, were left with a shipping company, to be delivered by steamboat once he and his family had arrived in Columbus. In due time, Lyon mailed the company word that he desired his possessions to arrive in early December. Because of low water levels on the Mississippi River, the bundle was not sent until January 10, 1855. On January 27, Lyon received a letter from the shipping company dated January 18, informing him that the steamboat carrying his things, named “Garden City,” burned on January 14 on the Mississippi near the mouth of the Arkansas River. All he owned materially, other than what had his family had brought with them to Columbus, was destroyed with the boat.

He had purchased insurance for only about half the value of his belongings—though as anyone who has ever experienced a loss of all things to a natural disaster can attest, the financial cost pales in comparison to the loss of those things that money cannot buy. Lyon wrote, “[T]he pecuniary loss I do not much regard—we lost many things that possessed a relative value to us which money cannot remunerate for—gifts, heirlooms, memorials, family mementos, etc.”

And then he wrote words with which many, including myself, would tearfully agree: “But the Library is the great loss. This is to some, nay a great, extent irreparable…” His explanation—particularly the italicized portion below—will resonate with the heart of every bibliophile:

I had been twenty years in collecting it—it contained many rare books which I have no hope of every being able to replace—books long since out of print, which I had picked up at different times and places—books which I was in search of years before I came across them—books which I had imported from England and Continental Europe—books presented by kind and dear friends accompanied with their kindest wishes expressed in their own handwriting—books thumbed over by my deceased children, in search of pictures and engravings, etc., etc. . . Even many of those books, that can be replaced with money will not be the same to me, since my manner was to read a book with pencil in hand, make a mark in the margin opposite to all striking or important passages or facts, that I judged worthy of a re-perusal, then made a reference index of such marked places, on the blank leaves at the end of the volume, so that I could at any leisure half-hour pick up a volume thus pencilled in and review its most valuable portions without delay or difficulty—consequently even the same books will not be the same to me, they would be wanting in those marginal references, and indexes, hence the loss is indeed to a great extent irreparable!

There is no earthly loss to a student (save that of family and friends) so great as the loss of a select and familiar library—books that he himself has gradually accumulated, read, marked, and referred to. Indeed it embodies almost every thing that is valuable in Life—It is the loss of a most precious friend—a friend always ready to administer to our happiness, or to mitigate our sorrows—a friend that can adapt itself to every possible mood of mind—To one gloomy, sad, melancholy, hopefully, merry, joyous, this friend (well selected, with a judicious variety) will be sure to present some thing exactly suited to our mental or moral condition—It soothes our griefs, it stimulates our hopes, it encourages our flagging spirits, and rewards without grudging or mincing our emulous toil. This friend too is always accessible, never tired of our company—does not require to be watched and caressed, and flattered sometimes to keep it in a good humor—never grows sulky, nor “pouts”! Tis true it is a very silent friend, never speaks except when spoken to—never gives advice except when asked; but it requires no ceremony, no knocking at the door—no sending of cards, no waiting in the antechamber—and withal infinitely patient, never grows weary, or fretful, but will with the same never-varying and never failing imperturbability, answer the same question a thousand times over! Nay there is no end to the good qualities of this friend—What spot in the wide creation is so delightful to the study as the bosom of his Library!—how sad, how homeless and friendless does the devoted student feel when that Library is in a moment swept away forever!

. . . But the Lord reigns; there is no doubt, but that the destruction of my Library is designed for my own good. God in his Providence has destroyed several vast collections of books at different periods in the earth’s history, e.g. at Pergamon and Alexandria, and elsewhere, which I have not doubt, was for the best—So good is designed I have no doubt, to me, I earnestly pray for God’s superintending and merciful Providence, in selecting a new Library. It is a matter of great importance, and in this I need wisdom and judgment, for which I earnestly pray.

I shudder to think of the total loss of my library at home or at church. Yet like any good gift of God, it’s easy to make an idol out of our books. So I’m thankful for the reminder of Ecclesiastes 12:12—“Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearying to the body.” Let us hold loosely to our beloved books, thank God for the time we have with them in this life, and use them well.

Reading is informative, enjoyable, challenging, and beneficial in numerous ways. yet evidently people are making other choices about how to use their time. I don’t think that bodes well for our culture.

I’m currently reading through Volume 1 of John Murray’s Collected Writings with some fellow pastors, and we recently finished a brief but incredibly encouraging essay entitled, “The Power of the Holy Spirit.” In the space of 4 1/4 pages, Murray considers the Spirit’s power as the source of faith, the source of effectual proclamation, and the source of encouragement. But he begins by making two helpful observations, one exegetical and one redemptive-historical.

1. In Acts 1:8, just before Jesus ascended to heaven, He prophesied that the disciples would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. But earlier, on the day of His resurrection, John tells us that “He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:22). It isn’t exactly clear how to relate this statement with the events of the Day of Pentecost. Murray gives two possible answers: 1) Jesus’ action/statement in John may be anticipating the event in Acts; or 2) “As there were stages in Jesus’ own endowment with power, so the same thought of progression may be applied in this instance to the disciples.” Either way, Murray argues that what took place on the day He rose from the dead does not interfere with the momentous nature of what took place when He sent His Spirit on Pentecost, for…

2. Pentecost was a once-and-for-all event in the same way that the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus were once-and-for-all events. In fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham in Genesis 22:18 (“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed”) and to Jesus in Psalm 2:8 (“Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession”), the Spirit comes in grace and power. We who believe the gospel today do so because the Spirit has brought the gospel to the farthest reaches of the earth through the witness of those who have come before us.

With those comments established, Murray unpacks three aspects from which the Spirit’s power might be viewed.

1. The Source of Faith. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 that his preaching was “not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” The power of God on which faith rests is that powerful influence of the Spirit that made Paul’s preaching effective. By the Spirit’s power, Murray explains, “the word of the gospel was registered in the hearts of believers as the truth of God. In other words, the power was the certification of divinity and it was power so compulsive that it constrained faith.” This powerful work of the Spirit is what John is referring to as the “anointing” or “unction” of the Holy One by which we know the truth (1 John 2:20-21). It is often called internal testimony of the Spirit. By this work, not only does He illumine His word—opening our minds and making them responsive to the evidence that the Scriptures themselves contain of their divine origin, character, and authority—He also provides powerful demonstration of the truthfulness of the word of God, that it is the word of God, and not merely the word of men (see 1 Thessalonians 2:13). Faith is the work of God’s Spirit through the word.

2. The Source of Effectual Proclamation. For the preaching of God’s word to be effectual unto salvation, the power of the Spirit must accompany it. Two postures therefore, Murray concludes, must be found in the preacher. First, dependence. “[H]ow dismally we fail in communication if we overlook the fact that in the last analysis communication is dependent upon a grace we cannot command and cannot pour into the channels of our ingenuity!” All our preaching is in vain unless the Spirit is powerfully at work. Second, cultivation of the means. Dependence must never become an excuse for laziness and sloth. On the contrary, declares Murray, “those most persuaded of God’s sovereignty are the persons who are most diligent in the exercises that come within the sphere of human responsibility.” Persuasion that the Spirit must certify and make effectual our preaching in the hearts of our hearers is always accompanied by “the blood, sweat, toil, and tears of devoted and sustained study of that Word to which the Spirit adds certification.” Therefore, Murray rightly deduces that the power of the Spirit is not only indispensable (and at work) in the act of preaching, but also in the act of preparation for preaching. Thus prayer is necessary as we dependently prepare and dependently preach the word of God.

3. The Source of Encouragement. Whenever we preach God’s word, we encounter circumstances that tempt us to discouragement: unresponsiveness, coldness, indifference, and especially unfaithfulness. We are helpless in the conflict against human sinfulness, and are driven back to the facts that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and the Spirit is the one who powerfully seals (i.e., confirms) the preaching of the gospel. Our confidence is that Jesus has promised to be present to the end of the age (Matthew 28:18-20), and that the Spirit abides in and with the church, convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and revealing the glories of Christ to them. “Our confidence,” states Murray, “should be as unbounded as our dependence is complete. Our desires and intercessions should be as extensive as the promises of God (Gen. 22:18; Psalm 2:8), and as extensive as the commission to disciple all the nations.

Murray closes his brief essay with the following words of exhortation: “Defeatism and discouragement are the hallmarks of unbelief and the counsel of the enemy. When we give place to these we are forgetting that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. The power of the Spirit is a familiar expression. But let us realize what it means. Let us covet and use the means necessary for the attainment of that unctuous witness-bearing, more formal in the preaching of the gospel, more informal in our day-to-day testimony, in which it will be manifest that the gospel comes not only in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance.” May the Lord grant us the grace and power of His Spirit to do this very thing!

For the sake of the congregation I shepherd (Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church in Ridgeland, MS), and anyone else who might be interested, I share the following reflections.

1. Jesus graciously continues to build His church! Retiring Stated Clerk Bryan Chapell reported that as of the end of 2024, for the first time ever, reported membership of the PCA is over 400,000 (400,751 to be exact). And this number comes from only about half of our 1,667 churches and 297 mission churches reporting their statistics. Presumably those churches that don’t report are on the small size, but even still, this fact means we’re likely even a few thousand members more than 400,000. To be sure, if most churches are like POPC, the statistics include folks who have moved away or have stopped attending worship, and should one day soon be removed from the membership roll. But filling our sanctuaries are also visitors who will one day soon join our churches. So it’s probably a wash. The point is, at a time when church membership is declining across the board, it’s humbling to see that God has chosen to bring people into our midst. What a stewardship elders have to know, feed, lead, and protect the sheep!

2. A more sobering statistic: Dr. Chapell also reported that though we have 767 candidates for the ministry (i.e., those at some point in the process of officially preparing for ordination as gospel ministers), a five year high, yet this is not enough to replace the ministers who are leaving or retiring from the ministry each year. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Luke 10:2)!

3. On the opening Tuesday night session of the Assembly, we hold a brief training session on how to use our voting clickers. One of the test questions that typically gets asked is “How many General Assemblies have you attended?” Of the 1806 responses, 13% said it was their first GA, 33% said 2-4, 31% said 5-10, 15% said 11-20, and only 9% said 21+. I’m not a professional statistician, so take the following sentences with a grain of salt. On the one hand, these numbers are encouraging, for they tell us that nearly half of our attendees (46%, approximately 830) are younger/newer teaching elders, newer ruling elders, or ruling elders who finally have a chance to attend GA. One way to interpret this number is that there is great energy and excitement among the younger generation to participate in the highest court of the church. This is a good thing. But that 9% number is particularly discouraging. Do the math: 9% of 1806 is approximately 160. I’m on the lowest side of 21+ Assemblies, being 49 years old, having been ordained in 2003 and having attended my first GA in 2004, and as far as I can recall, having only missed one or maybe two General Assemblies. So one way to read the number 160 is that some (many?) teaching elders ages 50-70 are choosing not to participate in the highest court of the church. If this is a valid reading, it seems to me to be a decidedly bad thing. I’m sure reasons can be given why they no longer attend (or why they chose not to attend the first night’s election of our Moderator?). And granted, some men aren’t able to attend GA every year, some men go to seminary later in life, and others don’t spend their entire lives in the ministry, so they would be included in the 15%—but 24% of 1806 is still only approximately 430. True, it was mentioned that in 2015 there were only around 1400 commissioners, compared to the 2214 total number this year - so 800 more men came to the Assembly this year (someone else would need to dig in to determine the correlation of this number to the 46% of those present the first night). But here’s my point: there is often lament at the low number of ruling elders (this year, there were 1605 teaching elders and 609 ruling elders); perhaps we should also be lamenting the low number of men with decades of pastoral experience who desire to participate as churchmen in the General Assembly.

4. One of the primary ways that Presbyterians act like Presbyterians (i.e., connectionally, submissively to the brethren, and in graded courts) is through “review and control” (see Book of Church Order chapter 40): the right and duty of Presbyteries to review Sessional records, and of the General Assembly to review Presbytery records. This review is not only regarding whether the proceedings have been correctly recorded, but whether they have been regular and in accordance with our Constitution; whether they have been wise, equitable, and suited to promote the welfare of the Church; and whether the lawful injunctions of the higher court have been obeyed (BCO 40-2). The Review of Presbytery Records (RPR) report on Wednesday morning has become one of the more important, and more interesting, portions of the entire Assembly. That committee does amazing, thorough, painstaking, and detailed work, and the chairman this year, TE Steve Tipton, handled the long report masterfully. Members of the Assembly are allowed to pull out individual Presbyteries from the en gross/omnibus motion so that they might seek to convince the Assembly that the RPR committee wrongly declared some item an “exception of substance” (and thus is requiring the Presbytery to respond back to the Assembly with an explanation of its action or inaction)—typically at play here are disagreements over exceptions to our Westminster Standards that a Presbytery granted to a man, or disagreements over whether a Presbytery handled a matter in a Constitutional manner. This year, if my count is correct, 8 of the 88 Presbyteries were pulled out of the en gross motion and debated individually. In all eight cases, the Assembly sided with the RPR committee (though with varying closeness of vote!). I was thankful for this fact, for RPR has recently had a stricter view of our confessional documents (in particular with regard to its denial of paedocommunion and its affirmation that the Lord’s day is the Christian Sabbath, the focus of two of the eight votes). Thus to see the Assembly agree with its opinions was heartening.

5. RE Mel Duncan skillfully handled the Overtures Committee report. Three overtures in particular I thought were noteworthy:

   1. An overture (#12) that would have required the Lord’s Supper to be distributed only by officers was narrowly rejected by the Assembly (1020 men voted to change “answer in the affirmative” to “answer in the negative,” and 963 men voted to retain “answer in the affirmative”). Some (many?) churches have the communicants leave their seats to obtain the elements of bread and wine/grape juice, as opposed to those churches in which the communicants remain in their seats, the elders distribute the elements to them, and they pass the elements to one another. Some (many?) of the former churches have non-ordained members of the church, both men and women (and it was reported that in some cases even children, though I’ve never seen this practice personally), hand the elements to the communicants when they come forward. Just under half of the Assembly believes that the elements of the Lord’s Supper should be distributed to communing members only by officers (primarily elders, and deacons in the rare cases when elders cannot do so). This group sees the distribution of the Supper as closely related to the shepherding and discipline function of elders, and the practice of non-ordained members serving/distributing the Supper from the front as at the least confusing to the congregation, and at the worst a slippery slope toward egalitarianism.
      
      What became clearer to me through the debate, however, is that

      1. both sides agree that only a teaching elder/minister of the word may administer the Lord’s Supper to the communicants (WCF 27.4);

      2. both sides agree that the Session exercises authority over the administration of the sacraments (BCO 12-5.e);

      3. those who use non-ordained persons to distribute the elements to communicants view the practice as no different than a non-ordained person passing the elements to another non-ordained person in a row—in both cases the minister has set apart the elements by the word of institution, thanksgiving, and prayer, and has given them to whomever distributes, whether ordained or non-ordained;

      4. those who use non-ordained persons to distribute the elements to communicants view the practice as a horizontal expression of the church as a family, and the priesthood of all believers, and thus not as a slippery slope toward egalitarian views of office and ordination;

      5. the churches that have practiced for a long time the view that won the vote (and still remain in the PCA) do not appear to have shown a tendency to reject a complementarian view of office in the church.
         

      All this to say, though I disagree with the practice of having non-ordained persons distribute the elements because of a) what is lost when the officers do not distribute the elements (namely, the communication of the authority of the Session over the sacraments and the opportunities and duty to shepherd and oversee the flock, noticing who is and is not partaking of the Lord’s Supper—why would elders desire to give this up?) and b) the danger of communicating something unbiblical or misleading about the nature, function, and importance of officers to the congregation by the use of non-ordained persons to distribute the elements, yet I want to take what the other side believes about their practice at face value and hold them to that belief. They don’t see it as undermining the authority of the Session, or as leading inexorably to female officers, and they do see it as expressing our shared adoption into God’s family and the priesthood of all believers in Christ. So I should allow them freedom to practice their view (they have it anyway since they won the vote!), unwise as I believe their view is, and reserve strong and strenuous objections until I see their practices changing their beliefs.

   2. The Assembly approved the formation of two study committees: one to propose revisions to our Directory for Worship for authoritative use in the PCA, and one to study the relationship between Christian Nationalism, Ethno-Nationalism, and related teachings. I’m very glad for the first, but would probably rather have seen the study committee on Artificial Intelligence formed instead of the second, since it seems to me that A.I. will be more widespread than, will be with us longer than, and will be more impactful than, Christian Nationalism. It does seem strange for a church court to study a burgeoning technology. But I believe there are clear ethical implications of A.I. that our people would benefit from considering.

   3. The Assembly passed by a wide margin (1243-507) an overture requiring newly ordained ruling elders and deacons to join teaching elders in stating their specific differences with the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, and requiring each Session to record in its records the declared differences of its ruling elders and deacons, as well as its assessment of each declared difference in accordance with the categories found in our Rules of Assembly Operation 16-3 (merely semantic, more than semantic but not out of accord with any fundamental of our system of doctrine, or out of accord/hostile to the system/striking at the vitals of religion). I think this overture needed to be passed, since all officers take the same vow in relation to the Westminster Standards. But I am unfortunately doubtful that this overture will pass the required 2/3 of the Presbyteries, especially when Sessions realize the slight increase of work in receiving and judging stated differences, and when Presbyteries realize the larger increase of work in reviewing Sessional records regarding the handling of these differences with the same diligence as the Assembly’s RPR committee. If this overture passes the Presbyteries and next year’s Assembly, which I hope it does, I fear that many Sessions will disregard the requirement, or will do it half-heartedly; or that ordinands will not take seriously their responsibility to know the Standards well enough to know where they differ with them (or teaching elders to teach them!); or that Presbyteries will not take seriously the responsibility they will then have to make sure that Sessions are not granting men exceptions to the Standards that are indeed hostile to our system of doctrine. May the Lord cause my fears to fail to come to pass if this overture does make it all the way into our BCO!

There’s so much more I could say about this year’s Assembly, as there were many more votes that took place, overtures that were passed (and failed to pass), and discussions that were held on the floor. A huge shout out to the Rev. Dr. Kevin DeYoung, who did a great job moderating the Assembly and making us laugh out loud at appropriate times. Anyone who wants to be a future moderator in the PCA should strive to have a good sense of humor, a quick wit and way with words, an ability to understand and instruct the Assembly in what we’re actually about to vote on and what the effect of a YEA and NAY vote will be, a humble spirit, a working knowledge of the BCO and RAO and RRO, a willingness to be corrected, the confidence to make decisions and stand up for his rulings, and a desire for the peace and purity of the church.

“Your security, success, and comfort depend on the Lord; and in the way of means, chiefly upon your being preserved in an humble sense of your own weakness. It is written, ‘Fear not, I am with thee’ [Genesis 26:24, etc.]. It is written again, ‘Blessed is the man who feareth always’ [Proverbs 28:14]. There is a perfect harmony in these seemingly different texts. May the wisdom that’s cometh from above, teach you and me to keep them both united in our view.

If the Lord be with us, we have no cause for fear. His eye is upon us, his arm over us, his ear open to our prayer; his grace sufficient, his promise unchangeable. Under his protection, though the path of duty should lie through fire and water, we may cheerfully and confidently pursue it.

On the other hand, our hearts are so deceitful, fallible, and frail; our spiritual enemies so subtle, watchful, and powerful; and they derive so many advantages from the occasions of every day, in which we are unavoidably and unexpectedly concerned; there is so much combustible within, and so many temptations arising from without, capable of setting all in a flame; that we cannot be too jealous of ourselves and our circumstances. The Duke of Devonshire’s motto (if I mistake not) well suits the Christian, Cavendo tutus [Safe through caution]. When we can say, in the Psalmist’s spirit, Hold thou me up, we may warrantably draw his conclusion, and I shall be safe; but the moment we lean to our own understanding, we are in imminent danger of falling…”

Two poems that have powerfully struck me over the years are Robert Southwell’s “The Nativity of Christ” and John Milton’s “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity.” As you have opportunity soon, meditate on the glory of the Word made flesh!

“The Nativity of Christ,” by Robert Southwell1

Behold the father is his daughter’s son,
The bird that built the nest is hatch’d therein,
The old of years an hour hath not outrun,
Eternal life to live doth now begin,
The word is dumb, the mirth of heaven doth weep,
Might feeble is, and force doth faintly creep.

O dying souls! behold your living spring!
O dazzled eyes! behold your sun of grace!
Dull ears attend what word this word doth bring!
Up, heavy hearts, with joy your joy embrace!
From death, from dark, from deafness, from despairs,
This life, this light, this word, this joy repairs.

Gift better than Himself God doth not know,
Gift better than his God no man can see;
This gift doth here the giver given bestow,
Gift to this gift let each receiver be:
God is my gift, Himself He freely gave me,
God's gift am I, and none but God shall have me.

Man alter’d was by sin from man to beast;
Beast's food is hay, hay is all mortal flesh;
Now God is flesh, and lies in manger press’d,
As hay the brutest sinner to refresh:
Oh happy field wherein this fodder grew,
Whose taste doth us from beasts to men renew!

The incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ is full of paradox (something that seems contradictory, but is in fact not). The first stanza of Southwell’s poem captures powerfully the truth that Jesus is fully God and fully man; the eternal Son of God became man without ceasing to be God. The second stanza calls us to come to Christ to be saved from death, darkness, deafness, and despair. The third stanza reminds us that all who receive God in Christ as their highest joy must give themselves to Him. The fourth stanza . . . not exactly sure what’s going on here. The imagery of mankind being hay is odd - and certainly if Southwell’s Romanist/transubstantiationist views on the Lord’s Supper are a part of what he intends to convey by the imagery of Jesus being hay upon which we feed to be refreshed, I would strongly disagree with him - but the idea of being renewed by Christ to what God designed us to be is sound.

“On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” by John Milton

This poem is long, but I include the opening stanzas here:

This is the month, and this the happy morn,
Wherein the Son of Heav'n's eternal King,
Of wedded Maid, and Virgin Mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For so the holy sages once did sing,
That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.

That glorious Form, that Light unsufferable,
And that far-beaming blaze of Majesty,
Wherewith he wont at Heav'n's high council-table,
To sit the midst of Trinal Unity,
He laid aside, and here with us to be,
Forsook the courts of everlasting day,
And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay.

Milton highlights the purpose of the incarnation and the nature of it. Why was Jesus was born? In order to redeem us and reconcile us to God, by releasing us from the debt of eternal death we incurred in Adam’s fall through His own death as a man. What was the incarnation? Nothing less than Jesus condescending to leave the riches and majesty of heaven for the filth of earth (Philippians 2:6-7). By taking to Himself human flesh, He did not cease to be God, but He did become poor, so that we, through His poverty, might be made rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). Wonder of wonders, that the Son of God would lay aside His glory for us and for our salvation!

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Have you ever had the experience of giving a gift that you hoped the recipient would use, only to discover (perhaps at a White Elephant Party!) that they had not used it? In some cases you realize that you just did a poor job picking out a gift for that person - you win some, you lose some. In other cases, the lack of use is discouraging or hurtful, and even reveals what the person really thinks about you.

So consider God the Father’s gift of the incarnation. He hasn’t given this gift of His Son just to be a truth the Christian takes out of a Rubbermaid each December and put up on a shelf to look at for a few weeks and then put back in the Rubbermaid. Rather, He wants you to use it, not just one day or one month, but every day of the year. Not to use His gift isn’t just foolish, like getting a $200 gift card to a nice steak restaurant and misplacing it in a junk drawer — it’s also dishonoring to the Father who sent His Son, and to the Son who was sent. Doctrine is for life. Theology doesn’t exist in a vacuum, but to be lived out in the day-to-day problems we all struggle with. So what are the uses of the spiritual multi-tool of Jesus’ leaving the glories of heaven and becoming a man without ceasing to be God?

I. Use the Incarnation to Confront Your Pride and Lack of Self-Denying Love

In Paul’s letter to the Philippian church, one of the issues he was facing is a church full of pride and selfishness. There was conflict and in-fighting, division and discord. Thus he called the church to like-mindedness, to peace, to humility, to self-denying love, to consider others more important than themselves, to look not only to their own interests but the interests of others. But notice where Paul grounds these commands – in the self-emptying humiliation of the incarnation: “Have this attitude among yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, being made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:5-7).

Though Jesus shared all the glory, all the dignity, all the privileges, all the prerogatives and rights of God the Father, He did not regard equality with God something to be greedily clung to. Rather, He willingly and humbly gave up - not His Godness - but His rights, His dignity, His glory. Without ceasing to be what He was, He became what He was not, by taking the form of a human servant and being born in the likeness of men. He came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28).

Do you see how Paul is using the incarnation here? All of our lovelessness, all of our conflict, all of our strife, whether in marriage or between siblings or at work or with neighbors or in society, stems from a lack of self-denial, from our pride and selfishness that insists on our rights, our dignity, our way, our recognition, our glory, our control, our comfort, our interests. Paul says, “Use the glory of the incarnation, the pre-incarnate decision of the eternal Son of God, to confront your lack of self-denying love. See how Christ has loved you, and you will be enabled to love one another.”

II. Use the Incarnation to Confront Your Lack of Generosity

In II Corinthians 8-9, Paul is seeking to persuade the Corinthian Christians to give generously to the collection he is taking up for the saints in Jerusalem, who were suffering poverty (Rom. 15:26). How do you make misers let go of their money? How do you motivate yourself to generosity?

Paul uses several different appeals in these chapters, but one of the most important is in II Corinthians 8:9 – “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” Again, Paul takes the profound mystery of Jesus’ incarnation and addresses a common, mundane issue – stinginess. He again reminds us of the pre-existence of Jesus: He was rich, possessing all things, having no lack, being served by the angelic hosts of heaven. Yet He became poor – 1) born into a poor family who had to offer a pair of doves at his birth because they couldn’t afford a lamb; 2) poor in appearance, with no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him (Isaiah 53:2); 3) during His ministry a homeless man with no place to lay His head; 4) at His death His only possessions the garments the soldiers cast lots for, not even His own burial plot.

Why did He impoverish Himself? So that we His people might become rich – not financially rich, since Paul has just spoken of the Macedonian saints who had deep poverty but a wealth of liberality (8:2) – but spiritually rich. Jesus’ riches-to-rags story makes us spiritually wealthy, rich in good works, in particular the good work of generosity. We must give in light of the incarnation of Jesus.

III. Use the Incarnation to Confront Your Lack of Assurance

The author to the Hebrews takes head-on our fear and struggle with guilt and temptation: “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted” (Hebrews 2:14-18). Jesus was born in order that He might die. By His death He has rendered God propitious to us – He has made propitiation for our sins. That means He has offered Himself as a sacrifice to satisfy the righteous wrath of a holy God. And a just God will not punish twice for the same offense. Because God’s holy anger has been placated and His law has been fulfilled, Satan has been rendered powerless. By enduring the curse of the law against sin, Jesus has defanged the great serpent so that he can no longer use the law to accuse us who put our trust in Jesus. Death no longer holds us in its enslaving chains, but we have been freed from the fear of death.

The incarnation confronts and calms our lack of assurance by reminding us that nothing remains to be paid, we are completely freed from our debts and have nothing to fear from God or our enemies because of the finished work of our incarnate Savior, and we have a Savior who can sympathize with our weaknesses and struggles against sin. I love how Augustus Toplady put it: “Complete atonement Thou hast made, And to the utmost farthing paid, Whate’er Thy people owed. Nor can God’s wrath on me take place When sheltered by Thy righteousness And covered by Thy blood. If Thou my pardon hast secured, And freely in my room endured The whole of wrath divine, Payment God cannot twice demand, First from my bleeding surety’s hand And then again from mine.”

You may not use all the gifts you receive this Christmas. But do not fail to use the gift of gifts, Jesus Christ, the God-man!

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• But the change of a sinner's heart is both a one time act and an ongoing process. Regeneration issues forth into progressive sanctification and transformation. We are new creations the moment of conversion, and we are being renewed day by day into the image of Jesus Christ. The prayer in "Away in a Manger" has reference to this progressive sense.

• To be fit for something is to be prepared and readied for it. Heaven is a holy place, and thus God is making us more and more holy in this life, prepared and readied to enter the holy of holies - thus the author to the Hebrews can call us to pursue and strive after "the holiness without which no one can see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14).

• Of course, in the words of our Westminster Confession of Faith, "This sanctification is . . . imperfect in this life, there abiding still some remnants of corruption in every part [of us]" (WCF 13.2). It's not until death or Jesus' return that we are made perfect in holiness (Hebrews 12:23). But we are to pursue transformation in this life, in reliance upon the grace and power of God's Spirit in Christ to perfect the good work He has begun in us. Prayers like the one in the third stanza of "Away in a Manger" are one way we express our reliance upon the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He alone can fit us for heaven to dwell with Him there.

May these words, "Fit us for heaven!", be the constant prayer of our heart, and not just in December!

In the following letter Samuel Rutherford, a 17th century Scottish Puritan, beautifully explains how to view the death of a loved one who falls asleep in Jesus. These words have been a rich encouragement in light of my dad’s recent death. Yet Rutherford’s words apply when we lose anything we value dearly. We are but sojourners in this world, and anything we call our own has been lent to us for only a little while. It is the Lord’s prerogative how long we get to keep it. May the Lord, through these words, comfort the hearts of all who suffer. (This letter, which I have modernized a bit, well rewards a slow, and a second, reading.)

“Mistress – My love in Christ remembered to you. I was indeed sorrowful at my departure from you, especially since you were in such heaviness after your daughter’s death. Yet I do persuade myself, you know that the weightiest end of the cross of Christ that is laid upon you lies upon your strong Savior; for Isaiah says, ‘In all your afflictions He is afflicted’ (Isa. 63:9). O blessed Second who suffers with you! and glad may your soul be even to walk in the fiery furnace with one like unto the Son of Man, who is also the Son of God. Courage! up your heart! When you do tire, He will bear both you and your burden (Psalm 55:22). Yet a little while and you shall see the salvation of God.

Remember of what age your daughter was, and that just so long was your lease of her. If she was eighteen, nineteen, or twenty years old, I know not; but sure I am, seeing her term was come, and your lease run out, you can no more justly quarrel your great Superior for taking His own at His just term day, than a poor farmer can complain that his master takes a portion of his own land to himself when his lease is expired. Good mistress, if you would not be content that Christ would hold from you the heavenly inheritance which is made yours by His death, shall not that same Christ think hardly of you if you refuse to give Him your daughter willingly, who is a part of his inheritance and conquest? I pray the Lord to give you all your own, and to grace you with patience to give God His also. He is an ill debtor who pays that which he hath borrowed with a grudge. Indeed, that long loan of such a good daughter, an heir of grace, a member of Christ (as I believe), deserves more thanks at your Creditor’s hands, than that you should gloom and murmur when He craves but His own. I believe you would judge them to be but thankless neighbors who would pay you a sum of money after this manner.

But what? Do you think her lost, when she is but sleeping in the bosom of the Almighty? Think her not absent who is in such a friend’s house. Is she lost to you who is found to Christ? If she were with a dear friend, although you should never see her again, your care for her would be but small. Oh, now, is she not with a dear Friend? and gone higher, upon a certain hope that you shall, in the Resurrection, see her again, when (be you sure) she shall neither be hectic nor consumed in body? You would be sorry either to be, or to be esteemed, an atheist; and yet, not I, but the Apostle, thinks those to be hopeless atheists who mourn excessively for the dead (I Thess. 4:13). But is not a challenge on my part. I do speak this only fearing your weakness; for your daughter was a part of yourself; and, therefore, nature in you, being as it were cut and halved, will indeed be grieved. But you have to rejoice, that when a part of you is on earth, a great part of you is glorified in heaven. Follow her, but envy her not; for indeed it is self-love in us that makes us mourn for them that die in the Lord. Why? Because for them we cannot mourn, since they are never happy till they be dead; therefore we mourn for our own private respect. Take heed, then, that in showing your affection in mourning for your daughter, you be not, out of self-affection, mourning for yourself.

Consider what the Lord is doing in it. Your daughter is plucked out of the fire, and she rests from her labors; and your Lord, in that, is trying you, and casting you in the fire. Go through all the fires to your rest; and now remember that the eye of God is upon the bush burning and not consumed; and He is gladly content that such a weak woman as you should send Satan away, frustrated of his design. Now honor God, and shame the strong roaring lion, when you seem weakest. Should such a one as you fain the day of adversity? Call to mind the days of old. The Lord yet lives. Trust in Him, although He should slay you. Faith is exceeding charitable, and believes no evil of God. Now is the Lord laying, in the one scale of the balance, your making conscience of submission to His gracious will, and in the other, your affection and love to your daughter. Which of the two will you then choose to satisfy? Be wise, then; and as I trust you love Christ better than a sinful woman, pass by your daughter, and kiss the Lord’s rod.

Men do lop the branches off their trees round about, to the end that they may grow up high and tall. The Lord has this way lopped your branch in taking from you many children, to the end you should grow upward, like one of the Lord’s cedars, setting your heart above, where Christ is, at the right hand of the Father. What is next, but that your Lord cut down the stock after He has cut the branches? Prepare yourself; you are nearer your daughter this day than you were yesterday. While you prodigally spend time in mourning for her, you are speedily posting after her. Run your race with patience. Let God have His own; and ask of Him, instead of your daughter which He has taken from you, the daughter of faith, which is patience; and in patience possess your soul. Lift up your head: you do not know how near your redemption does draw.

Thus recommending you to the Lord, who is able to establish you, I rest, your loving and affectionate friend in the Lord Jesus. S. R.

(Taken from The Letters of Samuel Rutherford, 1984 hardback Banner of Truth edition, Letter 2)

“Our Lord Jesus Christ became incarnate, was made under the law, lived, acted, obeyed, suffered died and rose again for his people.

He came down to earth that they might go up to heaven.

He suffered that they might reign.

He became a servant that they might become kings and priests unto God.

He died that they might live.

He bore the cross that their enmity might be slain, and their sins expiated.

He loved them that they might love God.

He was rich and became poor that they, who were poor, might be made rich.

He descended into the lower parts of the earth that they might sit in heavenly places.

He emptied himself that they might be filled with all the fullness of God.

He took upon him human nature that they might be partakers of the divine nature.

He made flesh his dwelling place that they might be a habitation of God through the Spirit.

He made himself of no reputation, that they might wear his new name, and be counted an eternal excellency.

He became a worm, and no man, that they, who were sinful worms, might be made equal to the angels.

He bore the curse of a broken covenant that they might partake of all the blessings of the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure.

Though heir of all things, he was willingly despised of the people, that they, who were justly condemned, might obtain an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.

His death was a satisfaction to divine justice, a ransom for many, a propitiation for sin, a sweet smelling savor to God, that we, who were an offense to God, might become his sons and daughters.

He was made sin for his people that they might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Though Lord of all He took the form of a servant, that they, who were the servants of sin, might prevail like princes with God.

He, who had made swaddling-clothes bands for the sea, was wrapped in swaddling-clothes that they, who were cast out in their blood, might be clothed in linen white and clean, which is the righteousness of the saints.

He had not where to lay His head that they who otherwise must have laid down in eternal sorrow, might read the mansions in His Father’s house.

He was beset with lions and bulls of Bashan, that his chosen might be compassed about with an innumerable company of angels and of the spirits of just men made perfect.

He drank the cup of God’s indignation that they might for ever drink of the river of His pleasures.

He hungered that they might eat the bread of life.

He thirsted that they might drink the water of life.

He was numbered with the transgressors that they might stand among the justified, and be counted among the jewels.

He made His grave with the wicked that they might sleep in Jesus.

Though He was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was, yet He became a helpless infant, that creatures of yesterday, sentenced to death, might live for ever.

He wore a crown of thorns that all, who love His appearing, might wear a crown of life.

He wept tears of anguish that His elect might weep tears of repentance not to be repented of.

He bore the yoke of obedience unto death that they might find His yoke easy and His burden light.

He poured out His soul unto death, lay three days in the heart of the earth, then burst the bars of death, and arose to God, that they, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage, might obtain the victory over the grave and become partakers of His resurrection.

He exhausted the penalty of the law that His redeemed might have access to the inexhaustible treasures of mercy, wisdom, faithfulness, truth and grace promised by the Lord.

He passed from humiliation to humiliation, till He reached the sepulcher of Joseph, that His people might be changed from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord.

He was matchless in grace that they might be matchless in gratitude.

Though a Son, He became a voluntary exile, that they, who had wickedly wandered afar off, might be brought nigh by His blood.

He was compassed about with all their innocent infirmities that He might perfect His strength in their weakness.

His visage was so marred more than any man, that His ransomed might be presented before God without spot, or blemish, or wrinkle, or any such thing.

For a time He was forsaken of His Father that they, whom He bought with His blood, might behold the light of God’s countenance forever.

He came and dwelt with them that they might be forever with the Lord.

He was hung up naked before His insulting foes that all, who believe on His name, might wear a glorious wedding garment, a spotless righteousness.

Though He was dead, He is the firstborn among many brethren.

Through His sorrow His people obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing flee away.

Though He endured the worst things, they do and shall forever enjoy the best things

Wonderful mystery! God was manifested in the flesh! Here is no absurdity, no contradiction, no fiction, and yet a mystery that baffles all attempts to solve it, and dazzles all human and angelic vision. Blessed is he, who is not offended in Jesus. Blessed is he, who loves the incarnate mystery, and rests upon it. It is a mystery of love, of power, of salvation. It is the mystery of Godliness. It is the great study of the inhabitants of heaven, and shall be while immortality endures.”

— From William Swan Plumer, The Grace of Christ, chapter 21

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